Dancing With the Devil
by Minty Fresh Shock
Summary: Brutal murders have been happening about the small city; a hundred in only a month. The bodies are mangled and drained of blood. No one knows who is doing this, or at least they don’t want to believe what is right in front of their eyes.
1. Prologue: The Line of Dance

**Story Information**

_Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon Knights. If I did, why would I be writing _fan_fiction?_

_Story Title: Dancing With the Devil_

_Written By: Minty Fresh Sock (Ginsing)_

_Beta: aquajogger (Ally) (Mucho hearts to her)_

_Chapter Title: Prologue: The Line of Dance_

_Summary: Brutal murders have been happening about the small city; a hundred in only a month. The bodies are mangled and drained of blood, desecrated to the utmost degree. No one knows who is doing this, or at least they don't want to believe what is right in front of their eyes._

_Focus Paring: Rath/Cesia_

_Warnings: Lot of blood, twincest, heavy language (:cough:ThatsandKitchel:cough:), references to adult themes such as rape_

_Notes: A large line indicates a large change of scene and/or time, while a simple '' indicates a quick change of person, time or place._

_Thanks to: Ally (aquajogger) and Kat (Lady Dragonnaine) for re-kindling my love of Dragon Knights. And my dream, for giving me the base of this story (Even though it evolved into nothing to do with dream's plot oo;;). And to Ally again for giving me a wonderful first-time experience with a beta-reader 3_

_Chapter's words: 3448_

_Start Date: 3/11/05_

_End Date: 3/15/05_

_Post Date: 3/15/05_

**Part I**

It would be wrong to call the night perfect, but it was pretty. What stars shone through the sheen of light from the city and the blanket of smog were bright crystals hung up in the sky by some bored, unknown being against the void of space. The moon was a greasy gray, fading in and out of existence as clouds swept across the sky on the windy night.

Maybe it was the wind that caused it. It was howling between trees and houses furiously, snapping at branches, disturbing brittle leaves that had fallen to the ground. It blinded the eyes of three young girls with their long hair as they walked through the community's 'backyard'.

"Don't you thank it's a bit windy to be taking a walk?" questioned a silhouetted girl, wavy unbound hair that was devoid of color in the darkness.

A shout could be heard in reply over a particularly loud gust of wind, "No! It's perfect out!"

**NONON**

In the shadows of the dancing leaves, two figures lurked. Pieces of hair and clothing whipped about in the wind, destroying any further way to identify them. Only skin that glowed with a slight luminescence and fiery red eyes picked them apart from the shrubbery around them. Currently, a furious conversation was happening between the two, debating the activities for the night.

"…Three of them! One of the things might escape!"

"Oh, so what? Were couldn't she run to? And it isn't as if we could kill her another day. Besides, I'm hun…"

The conversation stopped as the wind died down for a moment, both figures shifting uncomfortably in the bracken, watching the three girls sit down in the small clearing. A silent sigh of defeat came from one of the masculine figures. Before the wind could start blowing, he lifted up his hand.

**NONON**

One of the girls sharply turned towards the sound of a breaking branch, her whip-like ponytail blowing across her face as the wind started to pick up again.

"Hey, guys, I think someone is watching us," Shian muttered darkly as she stared uneasily out of the corner of her eyes.

Miyabi perked her head up from the cheerful argument with her sister about the best weather conditions. "Oh, you're just paranoid."

Hanakusuku shifted uncomfortably, joining Shian in staring uncertainly at the bushes. "Maybe we should go…"

"Fine," the black-haired girl pouted, "But I am going to stay here."

Blue-haired Shian stood up shakily, dusting off her pants and throwing back her ponytail with fear-driven authority. "Come on, Hanakusuku." She stared imploringly at Miyabi, "Something doesn't feel right!"

"I don't sense anything," was the scoffing reply. Shian shifted uncomfortably, then started walking along in the opposite direction that the sound came, warily glancing around. The wavy-haired girl that Shian had called to follow silently begged her sister to come with scared eyes for one last time, then trotted to catch up with her sister. Miyabi sighed, lying back down.

And then the scream came.

**NONON**

Running.

She was running, heart beating loudly in her chest, her arms, her head. She crashed through the bracken and trees, unforgiving arms of wood stealing, ripping at her skin and clothes. They were right behind her. The monsters. She could only hear their laughing, like the cruel stones of the underworld shifting under the weight of the souls. She could only see flashes of shadow, was constantly running away from anything that moved, but always towards that place.

That special place.

**NONON**

The man grinned, blood pumping through his veins from the smell and excitement of the hunt. The stupid girl had only stared as he and his partner tore apart her sisters, and only began running when they were drinking from the desiccated bodies. He could smell her fear, enjoying it and the way she gasped and stumbled at each twig he maliciously snapped, the way her heart thumped loud enough to be heard from across the park. She was running pointlessly, fear-driven in her attempt to get away him.

He heard a crash and a stumble up ahead, his grin spreading as he knew she had fallen for good. A splash could be heard, and cries of pain. Joyless pain. The figure stopped, breathing in the fear of death and scent of rotten undergrowth…and something else. He frowned, _'What is this?'_ and stepped forward towards the stream.

She was kneeling in the ankle-deep stream, wild black hair loose and clothes torn, facing towards her hunter, her death. A smirk played across his across pale lips, "So, you decided to stop running and accept your fate." Not a question, a statement.

"No…" she gasped, voice scratchy from running, "I'm…safe here."

The figure frowned, moonlight playing across a pale face, fiery red eyes, and black hair, and took a step forward.

**NONON**

Miyabi stared, praying, as the monster took a step. She couldn't run any more; her lungs were on fire and tears stung at her green eyes. Her sisters were dead, and the monster would eventually catch up. The cold water bit at her skin, waking her up, driving away the pain and fear, allowing her to remember the peace and power of the place.

'_Please, please, please mother…'_

A grunt, from where the monster…man was. Miyabi looked up with a sob of relief; his left foot was in the stream, a gentle blue glow surrounding it. The wind was picking up, blowing faster and faster, screaming a threatening song through the trees. "You cannot…pass."

"Fine," he snarled, ripping his foot from the stream, steam sizzling off his moon-glow skin, "I will come back for you another day, and you will die, like the rest of you," and disappeared without a trace or footprint.

Miyabi choked out a sob, falling onto her back in the frigid stream, rocks jabbing at her. Another sob came from her throat, and she couldn't hold them back. Her salty tears joined the familiar cold stream, washed away to another place.

**Part II**

Golden sunlight kissed the bright red and yellow leaves of the trees that lined the well-worn path through the neighborhood's local park. It was just the time the morning joggers went out, running alone or with a dog. Currently, only a single figure was walking along the trail, laughing as the furry white canine pranced around, snuffling and sneezing at the decomposing leaves under the trees.

Kuonshiina smiled, content with life. Her little cousin was happy and going to school, Crewger was healthy, and she got to see…him… on occasions. But her life was again about to become scarred by a horrid sight.

Crewger had stopped prancing, instead stiffly staring in the direction of one of the paths made by the local children. "Stop!" Kuonshiina laughed as she walked up to her dog and kneeled down, "What are you growling at?"

The dog softly 'woofed' and began to run, crashing through the trees. "Crewger!" She wasn't supposed to have him off the leash, if he created a disturbance…the girl ran after him, straight hair billowing out behind her like a cape.

She only ran for a minute before she caught up with her dog. He was growling, muscles hunched at the edge of a small natural clearing. "What…" Then the breeze shifted. It brought with it the smell of raw meat. An elegant head sharply turned, and a gasp escaped from pink lips, "Oh my…"

**Part III**

Blinking lights disturbed various people from their homes. What met them was the sight of 'a lot' of police cars and an ambulance. Bright yellow caution tape was strung between trees at the edge of the small woodland that was part of the park, and several men were walking about with plastic bags and gloves. They were crowding around, bugging officers and worriedly gossiping with each other about how it was another set of murders.

Thats sighed, rubbing his temples. "Why are there civilians here?" His voice boomed across the noise. The men and women looked affronted, but began to walk away, muttering about having the right to know about murders happening in their own neighborhood. However, one walked up to him, indignant and back proudly arched.

"I demand to know-"

"There were two murders, of ones Shian and Hanakusuku Hirogashi. Bodies were mutilated and found in the forest. Death maybe eight hours ago. Now fuck off," he sighed, finally loosing patience and giving in. "Kitchel!" he yelled, "What about the girl who found the bodies?"

A ginger-haired woman gave him an annoyed glare from the edge of the forest, then politely ended the conversation with one of the officers and walked over. "Kuonshiina, the girl, says that she followed her dog when it was running," she flipped through a notebook, "The dog was obviously upset about something, and stopped at the edge of the clearing where the bodies were found." Kitchel gave a pitied glance in the direction of the woman wrapped in a blanket, sitting on the back edge of an ambulance, where she was again being questioned.

"And the bodies?"

The officer obviously winced at this, but continued, "They were found at the edge of a clearing about three-fourths of a mile into the forest. Because the bodies were found so early in the day, almost no bloating had occurred. Both were mutilated, although it is suspected they were done by different murderers. On Shian Hirogashi, the broken bones consisted of…" she looked at the police captain, loosing all formality, "Thats, just about every single fucking bone in her body was broken. The only thing that wasn't broken was her neck and back, and her neck was pretty neatly chewed off on the left side. Hanakusuku is missing an arm, and the attached arm is missing the fingers. They look like they were torn off. The stomach has been ripped open, the tongue and eyes have been dug out. The scalp is shredded pieces. And I don't even want to describe her neck right now. Both desecrations were done completely differently, but at the same time. And the weird thing is, the only thing both bodies share is that they're both completely void of blood. Not a single damn drop is anywhere, just like all of the others. There isn't any evidence, but this was probably done by the same people."

Thats shook his head, thinking about the uproar this would bring, "These are some sick fuckers." _'No sleep, no gambling, not much to eat for at least a month. Dammit, why did I take this job? It doesn't even pay well.'_

"Lykouleon is going to be pissed," Kitchel sighed, "His sense of justice is admirable, but not achievable. Hopefully we'll be able to do something though"

Thats sighed, mentally answering his own question, _'That's why,'_

"Sir! Sir! We found a witness!" A young cop ran up to him, panting from the long run, "She was two miles into the forest, in a stream! A sister of the two murdered!"

'_Jovial mood time'_, he grimaced to himself, "Good, good!" Thats shouted, slamming the man on the back, "Hopefully this will shorten up the case!" and proceeded to march in an undefined direction towards the forest, probably to where a young girl was just now being carried out of the woods.

Kitchel smiled wearily but fondly after him, and glanced at the bemused officer, "He's just upset."

Nohiro smiled nervously back at Kitchel, but only sighed when he discovered she had walked off.

**Part IV**

A group of people were gathered in a dark room, with bare, gray walls that gave no comfort or security. The only noticeable object in the room was a window that looked into a room of similar design, with only two uncomfortable looking chairs, a plastic table, and a recording device.

"We found her by following a trail of torn cloth," 'Rookie Cop' quietly noted to the room as they looked through the glass window to the girl being seated. Miyabi's skin was dirt and tear streaked, her hair full of twigs, but her torn clothes from the night before had been replaced with an officer uniform that hung on her thin frame like a flour sack.

"Have the parents been found?" a black-haired man evenly asked, earning a glare from Thats.

"They're on a business trip. Both have been informed, and are waiting for a flight back."

"Shhh!" Thats irritably reprimanded, offended that someone else was working with him, "Cernozura's beginning to question her."

Sure enough, a gentle voice was coming through the speaker as the woman in the other room leaned over the table, "So, what were you and your sisters doing out alone at night?"

Miyabi stayed huddled in her blanket, but eventually replied in soft, cracking voice, "…I wanted to go outside…"

The brown-haired woman nodded, "What happened before the attack?"

Again, there was silence for a minute, "…Shian thought she heard something in the bushes. She got nervous, and wanted to leave. So did Hanakusuku, she was feeling something. I wanted to stay, but they both wanted me to come with them. I said no, I didn't feel anything. They left in the opposite direction of the noise, and were attacked…"

"What do mean, feeling something?" Cernozura asked gently.

The girl took a breath, "We can feel things. We can feel people looking at us, and know when someone is near," Her interviewer sadly noted that she was still talking in present tense about her dead sisters. "The ones who did it felt like…like…" Miyabi cast about for a word in her mind, and gave up. Instead, she raised her eyes to the glass mirror, and pointed a shaky finger, "They felt like him." Her finger was pointing directly at the black-haired man, and his eyes narrowed in response.

"Our main witness is a little girl!" another man in the room fumed, his rat-tail snapping as he turned towards Thats, "You can't expect the department to take her seriously! She still believes she has magic powers!"

"Calm down, 'Feeg. She knows the facts, although they might be a little bit … distributed within her mind. She's the only witness we have out of all these murders," Kitchel evenly replied, "And hush." Already, Cernozura had asked another question, and Miyabi had begun to reply.

"…Men. They were defiantly human," Miyabi said, "Not animals." She was aware the people on the other side of the glass were beginning to question her mind, so the black-haired girl left out that she thought they were monsters. Besides, what did it matter? The monsters believed in them, and the man wouldn't say anything.

"Okay, we thought so, but just making sure. Why didn't they attack you at first?"

Miyabi took a shaky breath, "They were walking away from the sound, but that was where the…men were. There were only two, and Shian and Hanakusuku were closer."

"Did you see them attack your sisters?"

The girl was getting closer to tears, "Yes. The one with black hair attacked Hanakusuku," she gulped, "By cutting at her stomach. The other one broke with two things of hair broke Shian's arm. Then…do I have to describe what they did?"

"No," Cernozura said kindly, "Not right now, but we will want to know what happened later."

Miyabi shakily nodded, tears beginning to show in her eyes, "After they did…to Shian and Hana, they bent down over their necks and began to drink…"

The interviewer silently gulped, along with most of the small group of people watching through the glass mirror. "Do you mean, their blood?"

"Yes. That's when I ran." Miyabi had let one tear fall as she said that, but her face had become neutral, robotic.

"Did they follow you?" the brown-haired woman asked.

"The black-haired man did, but only after they finished…drinking. He caught up with me quickly. He began to play with me, my mind…" Miyabi paused, wondering if she should tell them about the special place, _'No,'_ "…but I managed to loose him. I ended up at the stream."

Across the glass, the black-haired man narrowed his eyes.

'_What is she leaving out?'_

"…-nough for now," Cernozura's voice continued through the speaker, "I see that you aren't feeling well." She turned off the tape-recorder, and nodded towards the door where a guard was waiting. The occupants of the window-room shared with her an uneasy glance.

"Really sick fucks," could be heard muttered from Thats as the small group of people began to file out of the listening room.

They all stopped, however, when the soft, but strangely echoing voice of the little girl filled the room from the speakers.

"You won't be able to find them."

**Part V**

"-ther set of murders happened last night…" Cesia sat up straight in bed, startled awake by the new radio turned on full blast. Hurriedly, she got up and crossed the cold tiled room littered with half-open cardboard boxes and slammed at the buttons until it was turned off, not giving much thought to news of her new home. She tore a brush through wavy locks, groaning as it stole away some of the brittle hair of her forelock that had recently been bleached and dyed purple. She glanced in the mirror; her face was coated with smeared eye-liner and -shadow, her eyes were crusted with glitter. _'Why did I give myself a 'welcome to town' party on a school night?'_ Cesia asked herself darkly.

She crashed done the stairs, still groggy from lack of sleep, pulling on a black t-shirt that simply read "I believe" in flowy purple script, jeans already on. Pounding on the door of her brother's room, she shouted, "Zoma! Get your butt up!" and continued to the kitchen where she began to boil water for tea in an old pot and put pre-made waffles in the old toaster.

The waffles popped out of the toaster, and the water was just beginning to boil. Cesia quickly grabbed the waffles, blowing at them and muttering "ouch ouch ouch" when she hurried across the cold tiled floor to the waiting plates. Grabbing stupidly with un-protected hands at the boiling pot of water, she yelped and nabbed a dish-towel before pouring the water into a cup with a cheap tea-bag in it.

"ZOMA!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah…" came the sleepy reply from her brother as he dragged into the kitchen, his shirt off by a button. He stopped blearily, blinking at his sister as she set out a glass of milk by the waiting waffles, "Cesia, your pants are undone." She cursed quickly, turning around and fixing the mistake.

"Eat your breakfast, its almost seven! You have to get orientated to that new school at twenty after, remember?"

Zoma yelped, and hurriedly sat down to his waffles as his sister hurried out of the kitchen, intent on brushing the foul taste out of her mouth and washing off the previous night's makeup.

When she came back, the boy was putting on his book-bag. "Bye Zoma!" the Cesia shouted, bending down to kiss him on the head, "Have a good day!"

"Yeah, sis! See ya later!"

Cesia smiled fondly after her brother as he walked through the door, then remembered with a groan the now cold waffles and luke-warm tea. Finished, she proceeded to grab her book bag and walk out the door, thinking about what the radio had reported.

'_Another set of murders?'_ This place seemed so quiet, how often did they get murders? It was a regular size town, not small but not exactly a booming metropolis either. She glanced around, and then found a morning paper still waiting on citizen's driveway. It was dated to the day before, and the front-page story read:

"MORE MURDERS: OUR POLICE FORCE DOING ITS JOB?

The recent string of murders, at least two nightly, that has been happening for a month now has yet to have any leads.

All bodies have been torn apart and drained of blood. Our police force has been up every morning, just waiting for the

newest report to come in. They have yet to find any evidence that will tell the tale of the kill. Is our police force doing

it's job?..."

It proceeded to have an interview with the sheriff, and pointed out that the citizen's tax money wasn't doing anything. It cautioned the people to not go out at night and to lock all doors and windows.

Reading through this article, Cesia felt a growing since of dread. _'It follows me, everywhere. I thought I left that job behind.'_

**Author's Corner**

Poor Hanakusuku and Shian ;-; and poor Miyabi, having to see that. I didn't give the names of a couple of the officers in the window-room, although who they are should be obvious. Speaking of names, last names just randomly popped up in my head. When I thought of the three water-lights, I thought of Nohiro, and I couldn't name them that, so I cut of the 'no' and added 'ga' and 'shi'. Expect some really random last names later on XD (Hello, Mr. Anderson…)

Wow…I am extremely rusty at free-style writing, haven't done it in months. Hopefully, it is better then I think it is, and is more exciting then the essays that I have been writing.

I actually don't know much about police investigation, but I did my best. Please contact me if you have any suggestions for ways to make that part more realistic.

Just FYI, I probably will not be updating my other stories very much. I am not entirely going to stop writing them, but this story will probably take up most of my free time, and I was pretty PO-ed when my computer crashed and dropped all of the stuff I had going . I have each chapter planned out, and am excited to be doing this, so hopefully with prodding from my reviewers and Kat and Ally, I will finish this.

Allowing for three planned filler chapters and two chapters that will be side-stories that contain explanations of characters, this story will have a minimum of thirteen chapters long, with around five parts each for the important chapters. It could get larger as I add onto the story, but I will try to keep it short, considering how long it already is, making the max around fifteen.

I tried to keep the blood-description and language to a minimum, because I want to start this story out as PG-13 to get more readers, but expect this to change to R by the next chapter.

**Replies**

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	2. Chapter 1: The Argentine Tango

**

* * *

Story Information

* * *

**

_Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon Knights. If I did, why would I be writing _fan_fiction?_

_Story Title: Dancing With the Devil_

_Written By: Minty Fresh Sock (Ginsing)_

_Beta: aquajogger (Ally). And in thanks, I gave you a little Thatchel scene nn_

_Chapter Title: Argentine Tango._

_Focus Paring: This no longer has a definant pairing of R/C, but the plot will be of them meeting and sharing interactions. See author note for more information. _

_Warnings: _A _lot of blood, twincest, heavy language (:cough:ThatsandKitchelandnowRathandBierrez:cough:), references to adult themes such as rape_

_Notes: A large line indicates a large change of scene and/or time, while a simple '---' indicates a quick change of person, time or place._

_Thanks to: Ally (aquajogger) and Kat (Lady Dragonnaine) for being friends with me, even though I am faceless to them and they to me (In a metaphorical way), and to my reviewers for taking time to read this story_

_Chapter's words: 2658_

_Start Date: 3/15/05_

_End Date: 4/11/05_

_Post Date: 4/13/05_

**

* * *

Part I

* * *

**

The crisp morning air was still cool and damp from the night before, the leaves crackling underneath Cesia's feet as she walked closer to her new school. Her parents were still in the city, and had said they would come by to visit once or twice a month. They didn't interact much with their children, and as a result, Cesia and Zoma had grown independent of their parental units and relied heavily on themselves.

The school grounds were quiet and deserted, birds that had not yet left for the winter were chirping in the fading trees. Cesia smiled, _'I guess I have a little time to look around.'_ The school's office was on top of a hill, various walkways all leading toward it. She walked towards it, noting that a light flicked on and a figure was moving around in it now. A handsome head with brown hair pulled back from its face peeked through the window, and smiled at her. He vanished for a moment, and appeared opening the door just as Cesia walked up to it.

"Good morning! You must be the new student, Cesia. I'm the principle of the high school, Mr. Anderson. But all the students call me Ruwalk," he cheerily said as he ushered her in the door and towards what was obviously an office. "I used to work for the police, so don't think about misbehaving on my watch."

Cesia smiled uneasily back while she sat down, "Heh heh…yeah…."

"Okay," Ruwalk shifted through the mounds of paperwork on his desk, "Ah! Here's your class schedule, plus a map of the campus. Only seniors can…"

And so her first day at Rosemark High School had began.

Mid-morning break had started, and Cesia was once again worrying about the article in the paper, _'Why would those freaks be making such a mess in a regular-sized town?'_ She was absentmindedly heading towards where a large crowd had gathered, jeering and laughing becoming more audible to the girl as she neared.

"Disgusting freaks!

"Unnatural sinners!"

"You should be the next victims!"

Frowning, Cesia began to shoulder and elbow her way to the center of the mob. People didn't pay her any attention, yelling encouragement and taunts. She stopped at the edge of the circle, bemused at the scene before her.

Two boys with tackily dyed hair were slowly walking towards the other two adolescents inside the circle, one laughing easily and showily flexing his tattooed hands, and the other with a cruel smirk on his face. Their prey had their arms wrapped around each other protectively, their like platinum hair mingling in a large amount of waves and straights rods. Cesia gasped, frown deepening. _'Are these people shallow enough to hassle lesbians?'_

She took a step forward, into the clear circle. Immediately the crowd became silent, except for whispers of, "New girl?", and the two boys turned to look for the reason why they were no longer being given attention. "What are you doing?" One asked, bright-red head tilting to the side.

"You shouldn't be bullying them for their sexual preference. Just because two girls fall in love doesn't mean it's unnatural," Cesia said resolutely, spreading jean-clad legs apart and crossing her arms over her bust. Silence greeted her remark.

Finally, a snicker could be heard. The other one of the guys in the circle had covered his mouth with a vein-tattooed hand. Cesia directed her fiery gaze at him. The boy looked up at her with green eyes, and the snickers turned into outright guffaws, "Rune!...She…she thought…you. FREAKS! were lesbians!"

His partner in crime looked disdainfully down at the sea-foam green hair; the other boy was now bent in double with laughter, "Apparently you do not know. These two are twins. Brother and sister."

Cesia was taken aback in surprise for a moment. She glanced over at the two blondes who were still quiet, and they met her curious glance with defiant stares. She looked back at the two boys, "So? What gives you the right to call them unnatural?"

Immediately, the laughter stopped. The young man with the sea-foam green hair stood up, glaring at the girl with the badly dyed bangs who dared question him, "I give me that right."

"Clever."

He snarled a warning, threateningly cracking his knuckles, "You wanna fight, girly?"

Cesia growled an answer, preparing for a fight.

'_No!'_

Shocked, she looked around, and her eyes met with blue ones of the wavy haired girl, which were imploring her. _'Please don't, we can take care of ourselves!'_

But it was too late. She heard running footsteps, and was hit soundly in the breast by Tattoo-Kid.

**

* * *

Part II

* * *

**

"Why didn't you wait her out?" said a man irritably, lounging in a plastic kitchen chair and glaring at his partner. "Now we have a fucking witness." He was dressed casually, with soft cotton pants and a matching top with a draw-string hood. Oddly, the man had two locks of hair from in front of his ears reaching to his torso, and his yellow hair was accented by orange bangs. The man's green eyes shone with irritation; his companion was still paying attention to his book and offhandedly sucking at a red plastic pack, "You could at least take responsibility for your actions, Rath!"

His companion finally acknowledged the other's presence with a glare, and tossed the book aside, but continued to suck at the pack until it was no longer filled. Rath's hair was short-cropped and black. He was wearing dark clothes, and his purple eyes mirrored the irritation of the other man's. Finally, he finished liquid in the plastic and spoke, "Don't get your codpiece in a bind, Bierrez. I'll take care of her. She's just a little girl, and the only thing holding me back was that old spell on the place she ran to."

The two stared at each other across the shoddy table for some minutes, the second hand of the clock ticking loudly in their delicate ears. Finally, Bierrez sat back with a sigh, closed his eyes in defeat, _'Why do I listen to him?'_ He got up and proceeded to the fridge, where the only thing stored in it were the same packs of red liquid. The blood was cold, nothing they could do would heat it up, and tasted of plastic, but it was still food. "You know," the man began with closed eyes, "A new witch came into town yesterday. Much more powerful then those other two annoying ones. And I think she's a hunter."

Rath sat forward in excitement, black hair brushing across purple eyes, "A witch-hunter? Do you know how strong she is?" he asked eagerly, claws digging into the soft table, eyes beginning to lose their blue in the thought of a hunt.

His companion shrugged casually, "You know I don't pay attention to stuff like that. You're the only one insane enough to go looking for the pests," Bierrez opened lids halfway, unable to keep a smirk from his lips, "But I hear she's pretty easy on the eyes, if you know what I mean."

The black-haired man glared at the other through deep amethyst eyes, and sat back with his arms crossed over his chest, "Well, I don't care if she's a hag or a busty blonde, I'm hunting her. Tonight. It's been ages since I had witch-blood that wasn't poisonous."

**

* * *

Part III

* * *

**

The police station wasn't like it is on the TV shows: the desks were rather neat, and officers were trying to be a quiet as possible, although the combined whispers of the room full of people sounded like a storm of bees. The office smelled of new paint, because it had just been built to house the now large amount of officials needed for homicide. Desks were impeccably neat, and each cup of coffee sat on a coaster. The lights needed working on though: one over the desk of the new cop was blinking sporadically.

The uncommon, blessed silence was quickly destroyed as the doors burst open with the constant, ceremonial loudness. An officer strode in, sending people working at the desks in a flurry as they all tried to appear busy to keep away the 'evil eye'.

"Alright, my chickadees!" Thats shouted, grinning madly as he strode by the desks, to stop in the middle of a room, "Currently, we have over one hundred murders, with little to no evidence! We were lucky with this one, these bastards were careless and maybe left us with some hair! Why are you all so quiet? Should I be giving you more work? I want to see movement and hear shouting! Make sure all pieces of evidence go to the laboratory and follow up on any leads! The state is on my ass, expecting this to be solved in a _week_! They know we can't do it that fast, but we can show those uptight bastards by being quick about it!"

Whispered conversations now became shouting contests and people were desperately calling various labs about DNA analyzing and the autopsy of the bodies. Thats grinned proudly and began to march towards his office, thinking, _'Ah, I can order up some food! Wonderful food!'_

Then Rookie Cop, er…Nohiro came up to him, smiling nervously at his captain, who was grinning even more like a madman.

"Um, sir," he stammered, unnerved as the insane smile turned towards him, "The first of the DNA analyses have come in. They are…interesting."

The smile dropped a little bit, and Thats beckoned him to his office, where Kitchel was waiting impatiently with her usual tote bag. As soon as the door quietly shut on greased hinges, he sagged down into the chair, arms and legs dangling off at odd angles. "So, what's this you wanted to tell me?" Was the weary question directed towards Nohiro.

He smiled in reply, warming up to the enigmatic man, "It isn't human."

Thats, head of what had once been the relatively quiet department of homicide, threw up his hands, "So why don't we call in animal control and give me a break!"

"Because there were human characteristics," Nohiro stated, unaware that he was throwing his over-stressed and under-fed captain over the edge.

"So, we have a mutant on our hands? A biological weapon from terrorist countries? A vampire? A fucking _werewolf_!"

Thats' outburst was met with a sound thump on the head from the previously ignored Kitchel, "Stop that! Just because you haven't had food for a day doesn't mean you can go screaming your head off!" She turned towards Nohiro, fingers punishingly pinching the other man's ear between them like he was a misbehaving boy, "Now, would you mind going out, calming down those people, and ordering a three-person dinner from the Chinese restaurant?"

The young man nodded, smiling, relieved to have something to do and to be able to get out of the office. When he was gone, Kitchel turned towards Thats, releasing his ear. She looked at him, sighed, and pulled up a chair on the opposite side of the table.

"You aren't just hungry, what happened?"

Thats sighed, burying his head in his hands, "I just came back from the main HQ. The girl is gone, vanished. Our only witness was taken from right under our noses! And she was a little girl!"

Kitchel noticed a dark stain appear on the wood of the table, just below her captain's head. She suddenly felt uncomfortable, and thought about leaving, but duty wouldn't allow it. Hesitating, she got up and crossed to the other side of the table where Thats had not moved. "Um…it's…"

'_No. It isn't all right,'_ Kitchel let out a breath, and put a careful arm around the man's shoulders. He didn't flinch away, but he didn't lean into her, so she just relaxed, keeping her awkward position.

**

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Part IV

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**

Rath lay sprawled on a couch, bored out of his mind and flipping through the channels without even looking at them. Even on the cool autumn day, he only wore boxers, gray-pinstriped ones that clashed with the convenient crimson of the furniture he was laying on.

Bierrez scowled, wiping his bloody hands on a dish-rag, "Why don't you clean up after your meals? It smells like a fucking rotten meat-market."

"Quit jour bitchin'. I'll clean up later. Go jack-off or whateva ya do," Rath lazily said, not bothering to look up from the TV. The other man 'hmpf'-ed and threw his rag on the broken body that had been carelessly thrown behind the couch.

Flip. Flip. Flip. Ring.

The doorbell. He groaned as he pushed his body off the couch and absentmindedly scratched at his hair before dragging his sorry ass to the door. Clad only in his underwear, Rath opened the door to the bright sun and his visitor, "Whassit?"

A single eye regarded him skeptically before shoving past. His skin was the color of mocha, and his hair periwinkle. Without turning around, the man stated in monotone, "You two really should clean up after yourselves."

Purple eyes narrowed at the pristine white shirt, "Great. First Bierrez, then you. Don't come here if you don't like it, Gil," Rath snarled, the effects of feeding beginning to wear off.

Gil turned his head, regarding the boxer-clad man with his single eye before replying, "Your place is always like this. I mean when you hunt. You left behind evidence, even a witness."

"Get off my back! I am taking care of it! And what are they going to do about evidence, say that batman is real?"

The cat-tempered man turned around, snarling, "You now have a high-class hunter on your tail! At least don't kill the people and allow yourselves food for later!"

Rath charged up to his guest, inches away from his nose now, "I'm taking care of her tonight! I will get the witness! Now fuck off!"

"'Her'?" Gil questioned, confused now, "I'm talking about a guy from VAMP."

"…The fuck?" Now Rath was confused now, bewildered even. A guy from…? "Who the hell came up with that retarded acronym?"

**

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Part V

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**

"So…"

Cesia shifted uncomfortably, wincing as a chunk of ice hit a particularly sore sport on her eye, "Sorry about that…"

Tintlet smiled cheerily, "It's alright. It was nice to have someone stand up for us." She sported only a torn lip, the blood currently dripping down her chin onto a pristine white blouse.

"Yah," the elfin-looking girl's lover said from his position next to her, "Wat Sabel an Faveta arwez boser oos, o tsair wus o eed (1)." Cesia looked at him a moment in confusion, processing the words for a moment before understanding.

"Ah…" she looked up at him, idly licking blood off her lip in discomfort, adjusting the ice-pack again over her black eye, "…You know," Cesia said, lifting up a hand in the direction of the boy's broken nose, "I could fix that for you…"

Rune jumped back, his hand which had previously been holding Tintlet's joining the other in covering up what he could of the bloody mess, "O! Ey oold uqeck obkin (2)!"

Tintlet giggled, gently taking his hands off his face and placing them in his lap before kissing him lightly on the temple, leaving a bloody lip-print. "We'll take care of it afterward, but I think they are about to call you in, Cesia," she said, pointing at the office door labeled 'The Principal's Office' from which shadowed silhouettes were now moving. Disgruntled adults bustled out of the room. A woman with bleach-blonde hair and too much make-up disdainfully looked down at Cesia and gave an unsatisfied sniff, before hurrying out with her husband.

"Prick…" Muttered the girl as she got up, stepping towards an open door with Ruwalk waiting silently just inside.

_Translation:_

_(1) But Sabel and Fedelta always bother us, so there was no need._

_(2) No! They would suspect something!_

**

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Author's Corner

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**

**Rambles:**

Thats seems really OOC to me in this chapter, but that is how I imagined he would react to a position of command. And he really reminds me, in terms of temperament, of my old Latin teacher, and she was an insane Brit who went around shouting things like Thats did here, and called everyone duckies/children/chickadees. Oo Nohiro will just be randomly showing up to for randomness, he doesn't really have anything to do with the story.

And I have already written the final part of the epilogue of this story, so that means I have to finish it 3 I am already planning out the sequel, which I probably won't do, but it is fun anyway. It would be a mystery…hell, the only reason I am writing this is so I can think about that one. 'Dancing With the Devil' will be more of something for me to use to explore main character personalities in this situation, so that I will have the sequel perfect. The sequel will have the greater plot and romance between Rath and Cesia.

Oh, and sorry for taking a month to update ;; I had this done a while ago, but I was too lazy to get off my ass and edit it then send it to Ally for beta-ing

**Beta Comments:** I really do like this story. Well, that's probably a good thing, as I beta it. sweatdrop Even if I didn't, though, I'd still like it. It's very cute/intriguing/well done. o So... The point of this note is... Um.. That Ally spent a LONG time trying to figure out what to say here. And that she can't get it right, but that the reviewers just need to jot down and send a brief note. It doesn't take that long. So REVIEW! O

...And Ally-Beta-Girl will luff you. 3

**Replies:**

Peridot-chan:Eh, this does have some 'alternative' pairings in it (As you know from the twincest). There will be shounen-ai, and maybe shoujo-ai (If I can fit it in). And thank you for the complement, but I feel that I have no mastery of the English language and its use.

ALLY-SAN: I didn't take long with coming out with new chapter…nooooo…

Hououza: Hello, I am glad that you still are paying attention to me. Again, I take your complement with thanks.

RathIlluser-012 Thank you!


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